A buffet, bufet or bufé is a modality to offer food. In a buffet, the guest finds the food ready to be consumed on a large table. In this way, guests serve themselves what they want in the quantity of their choice. The buffet concept is used not only to name this way of presenting food, but also to designate the tables where food is made available and the facilities that, in some places, allow people to eat meals on the go.
A very simple equipment under construction but illustrating the purpose of these buffet stations is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,620 (Freeman, 2003), which refers to an food service equipment ideal for storing and protecting a variety of prepared foods using efficient and manageable containers to allow and easy and efficient food transfer; a modality of the equipment includes a container, a closing lid, specialized containers and support members. The container can be internally lined with a watertight material such as plastic or galvanized metal; the support members can be removable and covered with a non-corrosive material. Food containers can have various shapes and be made of different materials according to the temperature at which food is intended to be kept, and they are not a part of the equipment; therefore, any container can be used, provided that it allows the lid to close. Before using these containers in the equipment; they can be stored in a refrigerator or a conventional oven in case of cold or hot food, respectively. The equipment does not include supporting elements that allow keeping food containers fixed inside the equipment, and therefore, they could move during use.
As for U.S. Pat. No. 7,997,438 (Kelly, 2011), it describes a buffet server with removable internal dividers and insertable-removable food containers allowing the partition of the interior into one or up to six compartments. Evidently, the shape of the food containers is limited to conform to that of the container.
In the market, some brands are recognized for the quality and variety of their equipment. Among them, Bonchef® (http://www.bonchef.com) and Bugambilia® (http://www.bugambilia.net) offer stations that can be ordered as complete design through a system of support plates (tiles) and inserts in the shape and size of the cavities of the plate (tile). Its main disadvantage is being a “rigid” system where the only pieces that can be inserted are those matching the cavities of the plate, which prevents reconfiguring the order and size of the inserts, being the depth the only modifiable feature because the inserts are hanging inside the well.
A second option of Bonchef® is a system of supports and inserts to create your own customized configuration, and for this purpose it provides a system of profiles supporting the inserts (food containers). A disadvantage of the design of this system of support and inserts is that the contact surface between the profile and the insert is smooth, and therefore, the insert could fall into the well in case the support profile moves when the station is being used.
A second option of Bugambilia® is a supporting system for the inserts, in which a perforated table is inserted into the well, which serves as a base for the inserts. Its inconvenience is that all the inserts used must have the same depth to maintain the same upper height, and each table must be manufactured according to the dimensions and depth of each well.